Worcester State baseball team home at last

Thursday

Apr 19, 2012 at 6:00 AM

By Jennifer Toland TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The Worcester State baseball team has earned four NCAA Division 3 Tournament berths over the last 10 seasons while playing “home” games at Tivnan Field, Assumption College, WPI, Holy Cross, Auburn High and, after one super snowy winter, Sandwich High.

“If you name a field in the area,” coach Dirk Baker said, “we probably played on it. We owe a major shout-out to everyone that’s helped us over the years.”

This season — at last — the Lancers have a field to call their very own.

Worcester State University and the Worcester State Foundation contributed $540,000 toward a $2.8 million, multiyear renovation project of Rockwood Field, on city-owned property adjacent to the university’s north parking lot, and the Lancers opened the 2012 season there. Their first win was a walk-off victory over Brandeis.

On Saturday, the city of Worcester and Worcester State will officially dedicate the Kevin D. Lyons Baseball Diamond at Rockwood Field. A ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. before the Lancers’ noontime doubleheader against Bridgewater State.

“This is a momentous day in so many ways,” WSU president Barry Maloney said. “Not only does it mark a long-awaited day for our university baseball players, it demonstrates that great things can happen when a great city and a great university partner on a project like this.”

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, Mayor Joseph M. Petty, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien and Maloney are among the officials scheduled to be on hand for the dedication in memory of Lyons, a Worcester State alumnus, member of the inaugural Worcester State Hall of Fame class, and a lifetime supporter of Lancers baseball. Members of Lyons’ family will also attend.

“There would be no one else to name the field after,” Baker said.

Lyons, who played on St. Stephen’s High’s 1958 state championship team and on Worcester State’s 1964 and 1965 New England title teams, passed away in 2008 at age 65. A member of the WSU class of 1965, Lyons was a star center fielder who had a .403 career batting average and struck out just six times in four seasons. His No. 2 jersey was retired in 1997 and he received the Hickey Award in 2002 in honor of his dedication to Worcester State baseball.

Lyons’ contributions to Lancers baseball continued long after his graduation.

“He brought me in in my first year (1995) and told me how to bring this program back to its original glory,” said Baker, who is closing in on 400 career wins. “The guy did everything for me, and his family continues the tradition of putting the players first.”

Lyons was instrumental in starting the Lancer Golf Tournament, the alumni baseball game, and the annual First-Pitch Dinner, held every spring before the players leave for the team trip to Florida.

“He was ‘Mr. Worcester State,’ ” Baker said.

Lyons, who also earned his master’s degree at Worcester State, was an educator in the Northboro public schools and the first baseball coach at Quinsigamond Community College. He also served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard. In 1990, he became the owner of The Press Box, a popular tavern on Lincoln Street in Worcester.

He was an advocate for local youth and interscholastic athletic teams in the Worcester community. The City Council voted to name the baseball diamond in his honor in 2009.

The Lancers last played a full season on the site of the new field in 1997. The old field was often unusable because of drainage problems.

The new infield sod was laid in late fall 2010, Baker said, and work continued on the field through last winter.

“I hope the players from here on in appreciate what we have now,” Baker said, “because of what we didn’t have for so long.”